ENABLED JEWELLERY DESIGNED FOR LOVEGOLD
AKQA
TWENTY YEARS OF IMAGINATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Great work comes from great people, given a clear vision and the freedom to pursue it. Building that environment and sustaining it across two decades was the real work.
I co-founded AKQA at 21 and spent twenty years building it into a global design and technology company with over 4,000 people across 14 studios. I creatively led the company throughout, architecting a discipline built on four values: innovation, service, quality and thought. That attracted the most ambitious clients on the planet and the most talented people in the industry. In 2012, WPP acquired a majority stake for $540m.
My approach to leadership centred on three things: inspire our clients, inspire our teams, hire the next generation of talent. I brought together people from the most diverse backgrounds, with unquestionable ambition and the potential to lead in their own right. I gave them a clear and unambiguous vision, then the autonomy to chart their own path. The role of a leader, as I came to understand it, is not to be the smartest person in the room. It's to build the room.
What made AKQA endure was a relentless commitment to understanding clients and their customers better than anyone else, then building things that proved it. The work I am most proud of isn't any single project. It's that the company, and that standard, continues without me.
“For twenty years, James has stood out as the consummate creative leader in advertising, design and technology. And despite his impressive career, James remains an inspirationally open and thoughtful human being.
Famed as an outstanding and innovative craftsman, he is humble and honest, and has set the bar for excellence in our fiercely competitive industry.”
CLAIRE BEALE
INTERNATIONAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, CAMPAIGN MAGAZINE
